this game is also really cool because you can say "yeah i had to ride a plane 3 times in order to drive a tank through a desert to kill a giant robot guarding a cave full of monkeys" and have that be entirely true
It's actually funny that you say the game was likely not playtested, because one common story is that the final area, Mt. Itoi, was not playtested _at all_ due to time constraints and the result was the most infamous difficulty spike in the game
Yeah, it does really feel like it wasn't balanced at all. When i played the gba port, since it was easier, i decided to grind just for fun at Mt. Itoi. I got avobe the 70s in levels, and i remember one wrong move and the party got defeated
So much for that "Nintendo Seal of Quality". It's probably for the best that EB0 never released on NES, they had time to fix the balance issues while waiting for the localization work to finish but they still fixed nothing for the US market, even knowing full well how hard it is to sell RPGs overseas and how difficult Mother 1 is.
@@Duskool as fun as it is when you feel like battling, that "as soon as you mess up its done"" feeling gets heavy quick with random encounters... I aint even playing and the feeling crawls under my skin
Now that you say it, it almost feels like that area had just tons of game breaking things added to it in an attempt to make it bearable (EVE, the memory chip, the last area has a full heal station just because, sea pendant if you can get farther into it). Thank fuck for online maps, and I say this as a Mother 1 apologist.
The four horsemen of Mother 1: "The Plasma Beam was broken" "[enemy] tried PK Beam γ!" "Red Snake ran away..." [battle start sound] "Ninten ran away..." [battle start sound] "Ninten ran away..." [battle start sound] "Ninten ran away..."[battle start sound]
This is an excellent video. The grinding montage and the Wally joke killed me. It's so nice hearing someone give this game a fair chance. Most video reviews I've seen on this game are from people who really want to review Mother 2 and 3 and only review Mother out of a sense of obligation. This review had insightful thoughts to share and I appreciate that you did more than just tear into the dated aspects of the game. They're important, but not the whole story. Mother is my favorite entry in the series. It has my favorite story and I like the simplicity of the game. The first playthrough can be rough. But it's the type of game that gets better every time you play it. Once you know where to go and how to succeed at the battle system, it becomes a very quick and streamlined experience. And you can play it a bit differently every time; I've beaten the game without Ana, I've beaten the game with Teddy, I've beaten the game skipping Teddy entirely, I've beaten the game by going to Youngtown before Halloween, I've beaten the game going to Halloween before Youngtown, I've beaten the game without the train, I've been to the monkey caves, I've skipped the monkey caves, etc., etc.. There's an element of open-endedness and player choice that is unique in the series and I appreciate it for it. For the record at 35:37 I didn't think you were a pussy. Disliking high learning curves and at times unfair gameplay is valid. Though if I have to be elitist about something... When enemies use Beam Gamma it's less of a "fuck you" spell and more of a "fuck me" spell. They only appear after Duncan's factory, and if you get the second Franklin Badge there, they have only a 1/3 chance to kill one of your party members but a 2/3 chance of killing themselves. ;)
Even if it is rough around the edges, it is still worth playing maybe with a couple mods installed. At least it's still one of a kind in the world of gaming, and gave rise to one of the best trilogies of all time. Thank you for doing this, for one of the lesser talked about games. You gave it a fair shot and your points were valid and well put. Keep up the good work and have a nice day.
question - what mods r suggested to be used? ive watched someone play earthbound before, but i never played beginnings / zero. (aware i am late by 2 years but i am curious)
@@Childrenoftheclty I would look into one of the hacks which include the "easy ring" which I feel is by far the best way of playing the title as it makes there less enemies who give more experience, leading to a fairer and more enjoyable time for those wanting to get in. If not MOTHER 25th anniversary is a very solid hack as well but I would say is worth trying on it's own as a compare and contrast, as that original style is something incredible. Hope this helps and that you can have a fun time :)
this video singlehandedly manifested the switch release i just beat eb0 today and i think i like it almost as much as mother 3 which is my favorite game of all time
Supposedly the reason Miyamoto was unsure about Itoi's intentions about making a video game was due to Takeshi's Challenge, which was infamous due to its deliberately obtuse game design and its primary gimmick being that Takeshi Kitano wrote a majority of the game's ideas while drinking at a bar.
cool video man. earthbound zero was actually the first mother game that i played, and i'm definitely biased because of it but i think it's definitely overhated and misunderstood. it's insane that they made an RPG this compelling and unique on the famicom, it's genuinely a work of art and even though its sequels are more fleshed out in almost every way, i find earthbound zero to be uniquely charming. thanks for your hard work, this is a fun video : )
31:00 I know you just blurted that out in frustration, but it's actually true! The dev team ran out of time around the factory dungeon and tested it with invincibility cheats to just make sure the game didn't crash, they didn't have time to test it for balance from that point onwards.
Oh wow, I just got done there actually. Thanks for sharing this trivia! Now that I'm aware I've played all the good parts, I can move on to the next game in my backlog ^^
In my playthrough, I got lucky and managed to reach podunk with no random encounters. But then I went to merrysville and got an encounter every 3 seconds.
if the grinding is annoying, there's a version of the game on the gba (mother 1+2). the translation of this version adds the easy ring : an item that makes encounters less frequent and gives you more experience, both of these things being ideas you say would make this game better
@@anomymous1286 it's an error to think you miss anything by putting on the easy ring lol i've played the game multiple times without the easy ring, and it's a sludge of grinding for levels for ages, coupled with huge dungeons which have no real goal except annoy the player. personally i do like it, but mother 1 doesn't have good gameplay. it doesn't really ruin the game, since there isn't really a game in the first place. the story is the best thing about the game, and gatekeeping people who want to see that story for themselves but don't want to put up with hours of needless grinding will accomplish nothing
i never knew too much about mother 1, but i'd heard the "no crying until the end" quote in mother 3. neat to know it's a reference to the original! now i'm kinda interested in playing this, too. i always loved the story in these games, and i think i can push myself through the more primitive gameplay. fuckin nice video, keep it up :)
There's some old rom hacks that make the game a bit less tedious by lowering random encounters and raising EXP gain and stuff. I recommend giving one of those a try
Even with a lot of poor game mechanic and limitation, Earthbound Beginnings is still my favourite game from the Mother trilogy. Earthbound and Mother 3 are a really good game, it just they all have different feels. Mother 3 feels somber, not in a bad way but it's focusing on the tragic aspect where the characters have to move on. Earthbound feels quirky, it's focusing on the fun and chosen one plot to safe the world. While Earthbound Beginnings feels simple, it doesn't has the best story nor gameplay, yet the simplicity make it unique in the way I feel nostalgic, even tho I didn't grow up with the series and just find it during my teenage years. And this is just my bias for grinding, so I'm not annoyed with the random encounter, instead I love it! I agree that the map is very annoying, the first time I play it I got lost to Youngtown, which is close to the end game contain with only Ninten and Lloyd in my party! But at least I got teleport and make it easier to traveling around the map. Thank you for covering Earthbound Beginnings, it's kinda rare to see someone reviewing this game, especially in 2021, after 32 years since it come out. Please continue your good job!
I played this game after when I played Earthbound on the Wii U & I didn't like the game myself due to those reasons you mentioned. The music though is great for the NES & those live covers are amazing. I constantly listen to Pollyanna.
As a *MAJOR* Mother 1 fan I really do appreciate this video although I disagree with you at some parts you make really good points. Mother 1 is indeed a masterpiece with its story, music, and characters. The only thing is that the game was being held back a bit due to the NES' limited hardware and Itoi's small knowledge of creating video games at the time of making Mother 1. I think some people need to realize this was Itoi's first time making a video game and for his first time its an amazing work of art. Mother 1 is one of those games that 100% deserve a Remake some time in the future. I've seen people begging for a Mother 2 Remake all the time, but think to yourself do you think Mother 2 *deserves* a remake. I'm not saying Mother 2's a bad game not at all. That's actually the main reason it doesn't need a remake due to it already being a good game that doesn't really have too many problems caused by aging (well there are some such as the lack of running and for some odd reason even though it wasn't in Mother 1 the addition of making equipped items stay in your inventory slot instead of just staying in ur equip slot without "wasting" a space in your inventory.) and like the saying goes "If it aint broke, don't fix it." Mother 1 on the other hand has an amazing story to tell but it can't really do it that well due to the limited hardware it was on. In my opinion Mother 1's protagonists are *WAY* more fleshed out than Mother 2's. Every protagonist in Mother 1 has a reason for going on this grand adventure unlike Mother 2's: *Ninten* - Related in some way shape or form to the main threat/ villain (can't explain how or why cause spoilers) *Lloyd* - Ninten becomes his only friend and homies stick together (Its also explained in the Mother 1's Novelization Adaptation that Lloyd's Mother is deathly ill with an disease and the only way to cure the illness is a specific flower in Youngtown, but take the novel being canon or not as you will) *Ana* - Mother goes missing and joins Ninten and Lloyd in hopes of finding her lost Mother on their adventure *Teddy* - (This one is super cliche, but) Parents were killed by aliens on Mt Itoi and wants to join Ninten on their trek to Mt Itoi to avenge his parents Mother 2 on the other hand throws all of that out the window and just goes with the cliche over done "Chosen One" and destined to save the world or something approach. Even with outside media of Mother 1 such a the Guide Manual that came with the official Japanese release of Mother 1 and the Mother Encylopedia Book helps flesh out the world by telling each towns population. Protagonists everyday life, and other little tidbits and information that really gets the player to understand and connect to the world of Mother 1 even better. (Fun Fact: Lloyd is canonically a Mac Users), but yeah Mother 2 may have the more fleshed out gameplay and humor but the game aint got shit on Mother 1 with Story and Characters
I'd disagree with that on some levels. Although the Mother characters have more defined motivations, they are not really established to any meaningful extent in the game's dialogue. Teddy tells you once that he wants to join you to climb Mt. Itoi (somehow he knows that you are going there) and that's that. Lloyd tells you he's bullied and asks you for some stuff and then joins you. I mean, it was a NES RPG, so it wasn't particularly dialogue-driven or text heavy, but for the most part, in game, they craft the established personality of the party members in one or two sentences and never focus on it again. You are right that the characters are built on in supplemental material, but I just don't think Mother is doing anything that much more impressive than EarthBound with its characters. And besides, EarthBound and Mother aren't character-driven games, anyway. It doesn't really matter much to me.
@@switch1e I mean ofcourse an NES game can't go into full detail with personality or story due to limited storage and hardware. That's the exact reason the Mother 1 Novel Adaptation, Mother 1 Guide Manual, and the Mother Encyclopedia was created to tell the players the true intentions and the world of Mother 1 that couldn't be told through an 8-Bit NES Cartridge. This is what I mean by Mother 1 *DESERVES* an remake. An remake of this game will not only help fix the game's outdated gameplay flaws, but also will be able to tell the full story of Mother 1 that was originally trying to be told but in a way failing to be told on the NES
@@poweroffriendship2.0 MOTHER Encore isn’t a remake it’s a fan reimagining. Encore devs already stated the game isn’t meant to replace the original game. I’ve been seeing Encore progress for about 2 - 3 years so far and it’s coming through nicely but I do have minor issues about that game but nothing that ruins the opinion on it
Im so glad mother exists...ive always had a desire to make games but playing these games has made that desire stronger than ever and its nice to know its inspired so many other people too
I think the craziest thing about MOTHER is that it's actually fairly forgiving compared to its contemporaries, but only the best games of this era really entered into the greater pop-cultural subconscious, so it's not remembered as positively as it really should be. Next to the Dragon Quests and Final Fantasies, sure, it's a bit weak, but compared to the many other 8-bit RPGs of the time it's an absolute star. Crazy how far we've come.
I think Chuggaconroy was right about this game that the more you replay it the better it gets. I've played through mother 1 three times since it was released on the wii u and each time I had more and more fun with the game. The grinding and high encounter rate suck though. My advice is to abuse save states regularly.
I honestly feel like if the encounter Rte was halved and the exp rate doubled to compensate, the game wouldn't be the "Well it has aged poorly" game it is considered now
@@megatennepster3833 There are hacks that do that, but redesigning the enemies stats would be more useful than simply making you have more exp at less time.
People always talk about the "hardcore grind" of this game, but honestly, there's exactly 2 points where I'd agree with you that grinding is probably nice 1. Getting Ninten to about LV4 or 5 to properly start to explore Podunk (the starting town) 2. Leveling Lloyd and Anna to be closer to Ninten's level, since they're at level 1 (Can kill Ninten to do so without buffing him if you want) If you simply walk to most places and do most things and fight most battles you encounter, you'll naturally be at level ~26-29 by the time you get to Mt. Itoi, and by that point Anna has access to Power Shield, which reflects all damage (except from the final boss), PSI Freeze Gamma, which drops enemies to 1HP, and Lifeup Pi, which heals everyone at once. A much less obvious thing that also helps insanely is getting the TWO Franklin Badges in the game - One for answering Pippi's questions correctly when you find her at the beginning of the game, and one in the godforsaken Duncan's Factory (which I agree is ass). The Franklin Badges directly reflect Beam Gamma (The Fuck You spell), and turn it into a "No, Fuck YOU" spell. You never get a third one, so your third party member (probably Lloyd) is just doomed if they get hit by it, but SuprHealing + PSI Magnet can let you recover easily. Take this all with a grain of salt, as I'm definitely one of those older gamers that enjoy old RPGs
Yeah. Regarding the older gamer part, I feel you. I think in this video I focused a lot on my frustrations as a kid not being used to how older RPG's tend to be a bit obtuse but I didn't really delineate my young frustrations vs. my adult frustrations as clearly as I could have. The only initial big grind is getting Ninten juiced up towards the beginning. I honestly had a blast replaying it. Although I sympathize with people who try to play the game completely blind because that is a really heavy ask. Games back then usually expected you to read their manuals and stuff a lot more than modern games do and a lot of essential information is found there.
This reminds me so much of a UA-cam video I would watch when I was super into the MOTHER series... thank you for making me so nostalgic, even if just for a short time! Great review, too. Can't remember the last time I saw such a comprehensive deep dive of MOTHER 1.
I am happily subscribing after watching this. Everything about this is awesome and your taste in music rules - dropping Sweet Trip and Built to Spill on those transitions was kick ass. Mother is my favorite game series and this is a well deserved roast. In the words of Jeff Ross, “we have to roast the ones we love”. You nailed it.
21:15 is easily accomplishable if you frequently go back to your mom for your favorite food, and once you’re level 4 (shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes) it’s easy to make it to podunk. Phenomenal video btw!
Just another good video tbh. I know you've expressed some annoyance on twitter with the algorithm and stuff and I totally feel your pain, but I hope you don't let that stop you and that you continue to put good stuff out there.
I always found it weird how people would refer to M1 as game that was way too hard and was skipped by everyone, because is my personal favorite of the trilogy, later I discovered that the reason why I didn't have a terrible experience with it was because the edition I played was the GBA port which was also a hack room since it included the "Easy Ring" and my mind didn't process it as "Easy Mode", reason why I could actually enjoy the game and have some moments stuck in my heart like stone. Thanks to whoever made that hackroom, you allowed me to have a wonderful experience with the game even with it's flaws (I didn't find the zoo with the singing bird at first, didn't know what to do for a while lol)
Really enjoyed the video! Such good production and editing. I stopped playing around Mother around the graveyard section just cause I got too busy, this makes me wanna plug in my wii u again
Wish I could listen to Pollyanna more often, but I cry every time I hear it I first heard the song during a terrible part of my life, and as corny as the lyrics may be to some, they were just what I needed at the time Sometimes I need to hear the song to cheer me up, remind me that in a world of miracles, what's to say I can't pull one off myself? If I ever have kids, I'll be singing that song to them as their lullaby, even if I sob my way through it
D'aww, that's a really sweet story. I don't know if my relationship with the song is as heavy, but it still is so cherished to me and I could totally cry to it in the early morning, lol
I have similar feelings to Mother 1. I played it after Earthbound and Mother 3, and it really was hard to get into. Objectively, it's really rough and dated. Random encounters annoyed the hell out of me, the grinding got ridiculous at times, the story only really kicked in at the end, and I had to use a guide for some of the melodies because of the lack of direction. But at the same time, I can't help but love the game. It surprised me how much from the game influenced Earthbound, like the music and the characters. And I just have a soft spot for this series. The themes of moving on and love that are hidden in the story and tiny details are great and the ending just makes me so happy. I love Ninten's connection to the party members, it felt deeper and more genuine to me than Ness' bonds with the Earthbound crew. The music was great, especially in some areas like Snowman. Overall while the gameplay is dated and frustrating, the game as an overall package is still something special and I'm thankful it started possibly my favorite video game franchise of all time, Mother.
As somebody who failed to reach Podunk before putting the game down, while absolutely adoring EarthBound / Mother 3, I sympathise with your struggle. Loved the video, though; the effort that went in here is incredible, as well as the considered thought you put into how to actually assess the game. Definitely subscribing!
Just finished playing Mother 25th Anniversary Edition and this was a great video. Went over a lot of things I didn't like about the game but highlighted the reasons I kept playing. Great job!
Hi i just discovered this video because well i'm currently searching for mother 1 content Honestly my experience with mother 1 is kinda simple: i'm not yet an earthbound or mother 3 fan, but i decided to try and play mother 1 blind, 3 times now. I just gave up because the battles were that frustrating, but i was still curious about it and what it had to offer, so i watched a walkthrough. And i really, really loved it. Idk why but, seeing it be played was so enjoyable, discovering the nice weirdness of its story, of its interactions, of its characters, i just love it. It has a lot of things and tries a lot of things and i love it. Thanks for the video, very cool, i'll go try earthbound now.
I like to interpret the melodies as The Golden Ratio from SBR. It's exclusive tones of music that can be found anywhere, but it has to be recognized by skilled people. This explains the bonkers locations the melodies are found in.
I love EarthBound Beginnings so much, I decided to try to recreate the soundtrack. It might not be the most exciting game with the high encounter rate, but it is a very charming game. And I enjoy every minute of it. :)
I played this game just two years ago, going into not knowing anything. I’ve played some of Earthbound when I was younger, and watched a play through of Mother 3. Even though there is not much to the story and gameplay, I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Hearing the opening screen and 8 melodies just gives me chills when I listen to them. The game somewhat gives me those 80s movies vibe.
18:56 I disagree..Ninten is an adventurous kid despite having Asthma, and really didn't need to be sent to start his journey, he saw something was interesting and went on his own. Ness is a more thoughtful kid who is really a bit of a homebody as much as he gets homesick, and is there mostly as he feels a duty to help. Ana is more shy and proper having been raised in a church, she was timid and unsure as they danced. Paula is more self assured, able to deal with being kidnapped twice and even helping Monotoli to wake up. Lloid is.. a bit scary, the fact he is suffering bullying, firework obsession.. yeah... Jeff though, he's a nice kid with the worst father I can't express my hatred of that old monster, but he is focused and doing his best to earn the Andonuts name even while his father forgot he existed and wants to forget again.. yet Jeff forgives him in the end as his dad started to realize he cared about him.
I like this interpretation but you have to realize that at the most, these characters have like 5 or 6 sentences of dialogue in the whole game they're in
@@switch1e True, more dialog would have helped.. that and not dressing the characters alike but I tried to use the tiny bit of evidence the game had. You know?
I remember getting softlocked in Spookane because I didn’t have enough money for the train and couldn’t get any more for some reason. I don’t remember why because I played it years ago on Wii U, but I quit out of frustration
Honestly, this video opened my eyes as to what a Earthbound Beginning's "remake" would do for Nintendo. They would just need to fix the issues as mentioned in the video (it would be nice if they remade it similar to the style of Link's Awakening for Switch imo) and this would be a nice way to get something Earthbound related on Switch. The pricing might be a whole different story though (hopefully not).
I bought Earthbound Beginnings on Wii U because I knew the eShop was closing down and I was getting everything I had even a passing interest in, but I knew absolutely nothing about it other than the fact that it was pretty much a more primitive version of Earthbound. This video really opened my eyes to what it is and I really appreciate that. Great vid!
So I wanted to address the difficulty of the beginning of the game. I just completed this recently, and grinding for sure is needed at many points of the game including the beginning. I played this on the Nintendo Switch online, not sure how much has been changed from this version compared to the one you played through. One thing you didn't mention was back at the house. One of your sisters gives you Orange juice, and you can keep talking to her and get more until your maxed out. Doing that in combination of grinding a little bit in the basement before leaving the house, will really make the trek to Podunk much more manageable. One thing I noticed that both in Mother and Earthbound, both games seem much harder in the early phases. Before you get more characters to attack and absorb damage. Once you get those characters, (and level them up to something useful) it gets easier. In many people's 1st playthroughs, Peaceful rest valley was a real challenge.
there is something about mother that makes it so lovable regardless of its flaws. im not really a fan of old school rpgs or many rpgs in general but this series has a charm to it that just makes me adore playing them. i agree with what you said about the game, the overworld is too big and the encounter rate is painful, but the npcs, the characters, and the final battle really makes the game worth playing. also, incase you didn't know, in magicant you can buy something called the "repel ring" for i believe $160 which will limit encounters for a little bit and give a break from the tedious battles. and if ana is level 9-10 she can cast psi shield beta in the final battle which will make all damage halved so you can beat the game without having to grind to high levels for the end :)
I really love Earthbound Beginnings (though I know it more as Earthbound Zero or "Mother 1"), so much so that it's one of my favorite video games along with Mother 3. I'm really glad you took the time to talk about it, as it's often overlooked in favor of its successors. It's far from perfect, but one thing I think it does well is by having a very compelling atmosphere or "vibe." There's a sense of melancholic anemoia whenever I play. The map and its sense of scale is a big reason for this for me - I have a better sense of being a kid on a continent-trotting adventure than in Earthbound and Mother 3. That said, I've never played this game as intended. I really can't argue with you in regards to the gameplay. It's brutal, it's jank, it's downright broken. I highly discourage anyone from playing this game without a mod of some sort - it's really not worth it. Even if you're an ardent believer of playing games as vanilla as possible, doing so with Mother causes more harm than good. Honestly, I don't even think a guide is enough. I highly recommend newcomers to play this on GBA with a translation patch so they can utilize the easy ring. It doesn't make the game a walk in the park, (especially in the late game, you'll still need to rise and grind) but it makes it a lot more manageable and allows you to focus on the atmosphere that's so compelling to me.
I actually enjoy beginnings. Not knowing where the melodies are without a guide is frustrating but otherwise it reminds me of first generation pokemon games. Go from town to town. Turn based combat. Buy items to aid you. Even the sprite and art design are very reminiscent of those games to me
I'm glad you like it! Honestly since making this video the game as a whole has grown on me a lot. I can definitively say now that I think it's pretty great even if it's pretty punishing to go in without a guide or something.
when i play simplistic old games like mother 1, i feel inspired because i’m having such fun with this game that would be trivial, technically speaking, to make on modern hardware. i could _genuinely_ make a game like this and bring someone joy with it.
I remember the first time I ever played mother I got to Duncan’s factory and then quit bc that thing was too confusing for me as a child 💀💀 came back to it years later and finished my original save file tho lmao
There's something scary about watching a guy with long hair in a pony tail that is most likely a RateYourMusic user (velvet underground? sweet trip? there's even glitchwave in this video) that is a MOTHER superfan, it's like looking into a mirror as I literally had described myself writing this comment (or maybe I'm just self centered, but who knows)
@@switch1e I (unofficially) emulated the first 3 Final Fantasy games, the first game, in my opinion, was more difficult than EarthBound Beginnings. (I didn't beat it, or any of the others.) FF2 was fun, and almost had perfect balancing. (My favorite of the 3.) And I just, gave up on FF3. For some reason saving the game never worked. I also unofficially emulated EarthBound SNES a month before it's Nintendo Switch rerelease. The day they announced that both EarthBound games would be on Nintendo Switch, I instantly stopped running my emulator. (I was very upset.) (I use one of my old phone's to emulate old games.) Maybe I should try Dragon Quest next, I don't know. (Sorry if this takes too long to read.)
I LOVED playing MOTHER 25th Anniversary Edition as my first MOTHER game, so I guess I technically played a remake of this game! It left a good impression, honestly, but I don't exactly recommend it to my friends who have less patience for oldgamey bs
25th Anniversary Edition is great. Seems like a big problem with the original game is brutal enemy encounters punishing exploration. Anniversary Edition actually made exploring quite fun, and left a good impression on me as the only open-world MOTHER game.
I really love this review! As someone who's been a fan of Earth Bound Zero since they were a child, it always really pissed me off that one of the most viewed reviews on the game was made using an anniversary hack instead of the original game, especially considering that said hack makes the game look uglier (at least in my opinion) and actually makes the later areas way harder and significantly more grind-heavy. Overall the review is pretty bad because of it, and really shows why you shouldn't just trust random fanhacks to be "improvements". I feel you actually gave it a really fair shot though, which is actually super refreshing. The map design was something I never actually considered before you mentioned it. I remember completing the entire game when I was 10ish and only using the walkthrough maybe once or twice (iirc I got lost on Mt. Itoi because I didn't know you needed to use the boat with Loid, and I completely missed that Canary Village existed) but I could definitely see that as being a frustrating issue. Not really sure how I beat it back then without looking up maps to be honest though because I haven't been able to pull that off since. Funnily enough I remember that when my dad legally found the rare prototype abandoned in our backyard for me, he patched it with an easy mode patch (the Demiforce one I think) since he heard how hard it was and I played it for an hour before getting bored because of how easy it was. Then I went outside and found a second copy of the game that hadn't been patched yet, and ended up playing that one until completion. Somehow the grinding was never an issue for me as a kid, I always saw it as a challenge I think. Even as a fan of the game though I can acknowledge that EarthBound is pretty objectively better in some aspects, yet somehow that's the only game in the series that I completely lost interest in and never beat as a kid. Not really sure how that works out (especially considering I started with EarthBound before going back to Zero) but I guess it did sell well with kids in Japan for a reason, so maybe I was just the target demographic for Zero lol. Although seeing you mention your RPG Maker game makes me realize that Earth Bound Zero being my favourite game as a kid is probably why all of my terrible RPG Maker games I made as a kid required so much grinding in them, so that's a funny realization. But yeah, ramblings aside, I like your review. Good/10.
@@switch1e looking it up I believe it was the one by KingK? Don't really feel like watching the whole video to confirm though. The anniversary hack changes pretty much everything besides the music though, including balancing, map layout, all of the art, etc. so using the hack in a retrospective felt super disingenuous to me. It makes much more sense to me to review the actual official version of the game like you did. (Unless the goal is specifically to review the hack, which was not the purpose of said video I was complaining about.) Honestly I didn't even need to mention the other video, it's just really cathartic seeing a fair review of this game for once.
I think you should try mother encore (if you haven't), the fan-remake of mother 1, and it's still on alpha but I could feel how the mother series has evolved and the battles were much more balanced. I hope this got to you
@@switch1e they even have an official disord server, I think yo can find on downloads or something and btw the demo stop's at the magicant stone. Even though you should give it a try
I like a lot of things about Mother 1 like how quickly it lets you start playing at the start, and I don't mind the ginding and difficulty since I'm used to that with NES games. But yeah, those maps are pretty bad. I quit playing when I got to the factory because I kept getting lost.
I've seen people praise things that are hard to get ahold of or have become obscure. And I understand why - when something passed you by, it's easy to see it as a hidden, lost gem. And in doing so, to overlook its flaws. But I like how you tackle this game's flaws and admit how deeply broken it badly was. I played Earthbound first, and it feels like essentially a hugely upgraded version of this game, as you pointed out (similar story and characters, but also things like updated versions of the same songs). Mother 1 was still interesting to experience, to see what feels like an early alpha version of Earthbound's concepts. I really enjoyed this video.
Didn’t think I would listen to “Chocolate Matter” by Sweet Trip in a Mother video, but it was certainly a pleasant surprise. Great video, man! And great taste in music 😌
Mother is archaic and was the last mother Game I played, but this game hit me in a different way from behind to end, I was addicted, and though needs a remake, it holds a special place in my heart, and I think it’s the best NES RPG
I disagree that the beginning is the worst, later on gets so monotonous. after the robot dies, you can be wiped out over and over having to make your way back again and again
Mt. Itoi is easily the worst part of the game. The maps are large with few rewards, the enemies range from obnoxious and time-consuming to infuriatingly difficult, and you have to go through it twice! Thankfully, the music is decent, Giegue's encounter is stellar, and there's a free healer halfway through. But still, it's a disappointment both to what came before and after. EVE is really damn cool though.
commenting for the algorithm yay also nice video! i love your work. mother 3 is my favourite game of all time but ive never played 1 or 2 (and dont know if i have the patience to so i like just watching videos talking about them instead). I remember trying to play mother when those mini nintendo consoles came out and found it impossible because the enemies at the start were way too strong lol
Thanks for helping with the algorithm! Regarding the Mother series, you should definitely play 2 at least. It’s not much more difficult than Mother 3 (I would say it’s easier)
I just finished Mother 1, and you really summarized my mixed feelings on it very well. To put it simply, I absolutely loved it, but I don't think I'll play it again. I think it was worth it, even though I've never played similar older RPGs. The ending was also wonderful and made the experience feel complete in a way.
this game is also really cool because you can say "yeah i had to ride a plane 3 times in order to drive a tank through a desert to kill a giant robot guarding a cave full of monkeys" and have that be entirely true
Good point
Erm actually you have to ride it 4 times ☝️🤓
@@GhajlalalalaMore like 3 and 1/3 times
The real reason Nintendo hasn't released Mother 3 to the west is because they're waiting for every mother fan to beat Earthbound Beginnings first.
Well I've done my part
I already did since junior high school, who's left?
Im left, today i will play it.
I am replaying it without emulator speed up binds on my switch.
Its now available as a playable game on their NES emulator and its a blast !
Right now, Just got the second melody
It's actually funny that you say the game was likely not playtested, because one common story is that the final area, Mt. Itoi, was not playtested _at all_ due to time constraints and the result was the most infamous difficulty spike in the game
Yeah, it does really feel like it wasn't balanced at all. When i played the gba port, since it was easier, i decided to grind just for fun at Mt. Itoi. I got avobe the 70s in levels, and i remember one wrong move and the party got defeated
So much for that "Nintendo Seal of Quality". It's probably for the best that EB0 never released on NES, they had time to fix the balance issues while waiting for the localization work to finish but they still fixed nothing for the US market, even knowing full well how hard it is to sell RPGs overseas and how difficult Mother 1 is.
@@Duskool as fun as it is when you feel like battling, that "as soon as you mess up its done"" feeling gets heavy quick with random encounters... I aint even playing and the feeling crawls under my skin
Now that you say it, it almost feels like that area had just tons of game breaking things added to it in an attempt to make it bearable (EVE, the memory chip, the last area has a full heal station just because, sea pendant if you can get farther into it).
Thank fuck for online maps, and I say this as a Mother 1 apologist.
You are good and smart to say that, I am happy.
The four horsemen of Mother 1:
"The Plasma Beam was broken"
"[enemy] tried PK Beam γ!"
"Red Snake ran away..."
[battle start sound] "Ninten ran away..." [battle start sound] "Ninten ran away..." [battle start sound] "Ninten ran away..."[battle start sound]
that’s 5
@@enkayrome no???????
This is an excellent video. The grinding montage and the Wally joke killed me.
It's so nice hearing someone give this game a fair chance. Most video reviews I've seen on this game are from people who really want to review Mother 2 and 3 and only review Mother out of a sense of obligation. This review had insightful thoughts to share and I appreciate that you did more than just tear into the dated aspects of the game. They're important, but not the whole story.
Mother is my favorite entry in the series. It has my favorite story and I like the simplicity of the game.
The first playthrough can be rough. But it's the type of game that gets better every time you play it. Once you know where to go and how to succeed at the battle system, it becomes a very quick and streamlined experience. And you can play it a bit differently every time; I've beaten the game without Ana, I've beaten the game with Teddy, I've beaten the game skipping Teddy entirely, I've beaten the game by going to Youngtown before Halloween, I've beaten the game going to Halloween before Youngtown, I've beaten the game without the train, I've been to the monkey caves, I've skipped the monkey caves, etc., etc.. There's an element of open-endedness and player choice that is unique in the series and I appreciate it for it.
For the record at 35:37 I didn't think you were a pussy. Disliking high learning curves and at times unfair gameplay is valid. Though if I have to be elitist about something... When enemies use Beam Gamma it's less of a "fuck you" spell and more of a "fuck me" spell.
They only appear after Duncan's factory, and if you get the second Franklin Badge there, they have only a 1/3 chance to kill one of your party members but a 2/3 chance of killing themselves. ;)
those jokes killed me too
@@ItsFelix112 what jokes did you like?
@@switch1e grinding montage, wally, people screaming over pong, and the lamp one
thanks, i was curious whether people would like that stuff
@@switch1e I also liked the "Sonia" joke
Even if it is rough around the edges, it is still worth playing maybe with a couple mods installed. At least it's still one of a kind in the world of gaming, and gave rise to one of the best trilogies of all time.
Thank you for doing this, for one of the lesser talked about games. You gave it a fair shot and your points were valid and well put. Keep up the good work and have a nice day.
Thank you for the very kind comment!
question - what mods r suggested to be used? ive watched someone play earthbound before, but i never played beginnings / zero. (aware i am late by 2 years but i am curious)
@@Childrenoftheclty I would look into one of the hacks which include the "easy ring" which I feel is by far the best way of playing the title as it makes there less enemies who give more experience, leading to a fairer and more enjoyable time for those wanting to get in.
If not MOTHER 25th anniversary is a very solid hack as well but I would say is worth trying on it's own as a compare and contrast, as that original style is something incredible.
Hope this helps and that you can have a fun time :)
@@cannonballking7 Thank you !!!
No, no mods, the best way to play it is on nso.
this video singlehandedly manifested the switch release
i just beat eb0 today and i think i like it almost as much as mother 3 which is my favorite game of all time
funny enough i've given up on earthbound several times because it got too frustrating/difficult
@@uzmk_matowhat section was too difficult?
@@U-PN-BI-IBW Probably the Swamp.
Supposedly the reason Miyamoto was unsure about Itoi's intentions about making a video game was due to Takeshi's Challenge, which was infamous due to its deliberately obtuse game design and its primary gimmick being that Takeshi Kitano wrote a majority of the game's ideas while drinking at a bar.
Takeshi also didn't like gamers and wanted to encourage them to do something else
lmao
@@isauldron4337 So Takeshi's challenge is like Desert Bus if streaming events never existed.
@@connordarvall8482 not quite, desert bus is obtuse, Takeshi's challenge is sadistic.
cool video man. earthbound zero was actually the first mother game that i played, and i'm definitely biased because of it but i think it's definitely overhated and misunderstood. it's insane that they made an RPG this compelling and unique on the famicom, it's genuinely a work of art and even though its sequels are more fleshed out in almost every way, i find earthbound zero to be uniquely charming. thanks for your hard work, this is a fun video : )
31:00 I know you just blurted that out in frustration, but it's actually true! The dev team ran out of time around the factory dungeon and tested it with invincibility cheats to just make sure the game didn't crash, they didn't have time to test it for balance from that point onwards.
Interesting! Do you remember where you learned this?
Im honestly intrigued by the fact they even had the decency to go through it with invincibility to crash-check
Oh wow, I just got done there actually. Thanks for sharing this trivia! Now that I'm aware I've played all the good parts, I can move on to the next game in my backlog ^^
I need to double check the source, but I heard that Miyamoto played & beat the game, but only in debug mode lol
This was a bit bloody good Kyle!! Told a proper story and I learned tons. I’m never ever gonna play Mother 1 so I needed this for sure
18:38 LMAO! How have I never thought about that?! Ninten literally teamed up with a school shooter
In my playthrough, I got lucky and managed to reach podunk with no random encounters.
But then I went to merrysville and got an encounter every 3 seconds.
if the grinding is annoying, there's a version of the game on the gba (mother 1+2). the translation of this version adds the easy ring : an item that makes encounters less frequent and gives you more experience, both of these things being ideas you say would make this game better
Yeah, I had a lot of fun playing the translated gba version, no complaints!
The Easy Ring hack ruins the game.
@@anomymous1286 it's an error to think you miss anything by putting on the easy ring lol
i've played the game multiple times without the easy ring, and it's a sludge of grinding for levels for ages, coupled with huge dungeons which have no real goal except annoy the player. personally i do like it, but mother 1 doesn't have good gameplay.
it doesn't really ruin the game, since there isn't really a game in the first place. the story is the best thing about the game, and gatekeeping people who want to see that story for themselves but don't want to put up with hours of needless grinding will accomplish nothing
i never knew too much about mother 1, but i'd heard the "no crying until the end" quote in mother 3. neat to know it's a reference to the original!
now i'm kinda interested in playing this, too. i always loved the story in these games, and i think i can push myself through the more primitive gameplay.
fuckin nice video, keep it up :)
It's not as bad once you play the game enough times
There's some old rom hacks that make the game a bit less tedious by lowering random encounters and raising EXP gain and stuff. I recommend giving one of those a try
Even with a lot of poor game mechanic and limitation, Earthbound Beginnings is still my favourite game from the Mother trilogy. Earthbound and Mother 3 are a really good game, it just they all have different feels. Mother 3 feels somber, not in a bad way but it's focusing on the tragic aspect where the characters have to move on. Earthbound feels quirky, it's focusing on the fun and chosen one plot to safe the world. While Earthbound Beginnings feels simple, it doesn't has the best story nor gameplay, yet the simplicity make it unique in the way I feel nostalgic, even tho I didn't grow up with the series and just find it during my teenage years. And this is just my bias for grinding, so I'm not annoyed with the random encounter, instead I love it! I agree that the map is very annoying, the first time I play it I got lost to Youngtown, which is close to the end game contain with only Ninten and Lloyd in my party! But at least I got teleport and make it easier to traveling around the map.
Thank you for covering Earthbound Beginnings, it's kinda rare to see someone reviewing this game, especially in 2021, after 32 years since it come out. Please continue your good job!
Thank you, I am glad you liked the video
The pong analogy is actually a really good way to explain why historical context matters in criticism, well done
I played this game after when I played Earthbound on the Wii U & I didn't like the game myself due to those reasons you mentioned. The music though is great for the NES & those live covers are amazing. I constantly listen to Pollyanna.
As a *MAJOR* Mother 1 fan I really do appreciate this video although I disagree with you at some parts you make really good points. Mother 1 is indeed a masterpiece with its story, music, and characters. The only thing is that the game was being held back a bit due to the NES' limited hardware and Itoi's small knowledge of creating video games at the time of making Mother 1. I think some people need to realize this was Itoi's first time making a video game and for his first time its an amazing work of art. Mother 1 is one of those games that 100% deserve a Remake some time in the future. I've seen people begging for a Mother 2 Remake all the time, but think to yourself do you think Mother 2 *deserves* a remake. I'm not saying Mother 2's a bad game not at all. That's actually the main reason it doesn't need a remake due to it already being a good game that doesn't really have too many problems caused by aging (well there are some such as the lack of running and for some odd reason even though it wasn't in Mother 1 the addition of making equipped items stay in your inventory slot instead of just staying in ur equip slot without "wasting" a space in your inventory.) and like the saying goes "If it aint broke, don't fix it." Mother 1 on the other hand has an amazing story to tell but it can't really do it that well due to the limited hardware it was on. In my opinion Mother 1's protagonists are *WAY* more fleshed out than Mother 2's. Every protagonist in Mother 1 has a reason for going on this grand adventure unlike Mother 2's:
*Ninten* - Related in some way shape or form to the main threat/ villain (can't explain how or why cause spoilers)
*Lloyd* - Ninten becomes his only friend and homies stick together (Its also explained in the Mother 1's Novelization Adaptation that Lloyd's Mother is deathly ill with an disease and the only way to cure the illness is a specific flower in Youngtown, but take the novel being canon or not as you will)
*Ana* - Mother goes missing and joins Ninten and Lloyd in hopes of finding her lost Mother on their adventure
*Teddy* - (This one is super cliche, but) Parents were killed by aliens on Mt Itoi and wants to join Ninten on their trek to Mt Itoi to avenge his parents
Mother 2 on the other hand throws all of that out the window and just goes with the cliche over done "Chosen One" and destined to save the world or something approach. Even with outside media of Mother 1 such a the Guide Manual that came with the official Japanese release of Mother 1 and the Mother Encylopedia Book helps flesh out the world by telling each towns population. Protagonists everyday life, and other little tidbits and information that really gets the player to understand and connect to the world of Mother 1 even better. (Fun Fact: Lloyd is canonically a Mac Users), but yeah Mother 2 may have the more fleshed out gameplay and humor but the game aint got shit on Mother 1 with Story and Characters
I'd disagree with that on some levels. Although the Mother characters have more defined motivations, they are not really established to any meaningful extent in the game's dialogue. Teddy tells you once that he wants to join you to climb Mt. Itoi (somehow he knows that you are going there) and that's that. Lloyd tells you he's bullied and asks you for some stuff and then joins you.
I mean, it was a NES RPG, so it wasn't particularly dialogue-driven or text heavy, but for the most part, in game, they craft the established personality of the party members in one or two sentences and never focus on it again.
You are right that the characters are built on in supplemental material, but I just don't think Mother is doing anything that much more impressive than EarthBound with its characters.
And besides, EarthBound and Mother aren't character-driven games, anyway. It doesn't really matter much to me.
And also I agree that EarthBound should not be remade. Even if Shigesato Itoi was involved. I have no faith that they won't ruin the art style
@@switch1e I mean ofcourse an NES game can't go into full detail with personality or story due to limited storage and hardware. That's the exact reason the Mother 1 Novel Adaptation, Mother 1 Guide Manual, and the Mother Encyclopedia was created to tell the players the true intentions and the world of Mother 1 that couldn't be told through an 8-Bit NES Cartridge. This is what I mean by Mother 1 *DESERVES* an remake. An remake of this game will not only help fix the game's outdated gameplay flaws, but also will be able to tell the full story of Mother 1 that was originally trying to be told but in a way failing to be told on the NES
There is a Mother 1 remake that is on the works and it's called "Mother Encore".
@@poweroffriendship2.0 MOTHER Encore isn’t a remake it’s a fan reimagining. Encore devs already stated the game isn’t meant to replace the original game. I’ve been seeing Encore progress for about 2 - 3 years so far and it’s coming through nicely but I do have minor issues about that game but nothing that ruins the opinion on it
I played Pong at a museum once and actually got hooked. It's really fun
Im so glad mother exists...ive always had a desire to make games but playing these games has made that desire stronger than ever and its nice to know its inspired so many other people too
I think the craziest thing about MOTHER is that it's actually fairly forgiving compared to its contemporaries, but only the best games of this era really entered into the greater pop-cultural subconscious, so it's not remembered as positively as it really should be. Next to the Dragon Quests and Final Fantasies, sure, it's a bit weak, but compared to the many other 8-bit RPGs of the time it's an absolute star. Crazy how far we've come.
I think Chuggaconroy was right about this game that the more you replay it the better it gets. I've played through mother 1 three times since it was released on the wii u and each time I had more and more fun with the game. The grinding and high encounter rate suck though. My advice is to abuse save states regularly.
I honestly feel like if the encounter Rte was halved and the exp rate doubled to compensate, the game wouldn't be the "Well it has aged poorly" game it is considered now
@@megatennepster3833 There are hacks that do that, but redesigning the enemies stats would be more useful than simply making you have more exp at less time.
People always talk about the "hardcore grind" of this game, but honestly, there's exactly 2 points where I'd agree with you that grinding is probably nice
1. Getting Ninten to about LV4 or 5 to properly start to explore Podunk (the starting town)
2. Leveling Lloyd and Anna to be closer to Ninten's level, since they're at level 1 (Can kill Ninten to do so without buffing him if you want)
If you simply walk to most places and do most things and fight most battles you encounter, you'll naturally be at level ~26-29 by the time you get to Mt. Itoi, and by that point Anna has access to Power Shield, which reflects all damage (except from the final boss), PSI Freeze Gamma, which drops enemies to 1HP, and Lifeup Pi, which heals everyone at once.
A much less obvious thing that also helps insanely is getting the TWO Franklin Badges in the game - One for answering Pippi's questions correctly when you find her at the beginning of the game, and one in the godforsaken Duncan's Factory (which I agree is ass). The Franklin Badges directly reflect Beam Gamma (The Fuck You spell), and turn it into a "No, Fuck YOU" spell. You never get a third one, so your third party member (probably Lloyd) is just doomed if they get hit by it, but SuprHealing + PSI Magnet can let you recover easily.
Take this all with a grain of salt, as I'm definitely one of those older gamers that enjoy old RPGs
Yeah. Regarding the older gamer part, I feel you. I think in this video I focused a lot on my frustrations as a kid not being used to how older RPG's tend to be a bit obtuse but I didn't really delineate my young frustrations vs. my adult frustrations as clearly as I could have. The only initial big grind is getting Ninten juiced up towards the beginning.
I honestly had a blast replaying it. Although I sympathize with people who try to play the game completely blind because that is a really heavy ask. Games back then usually expected you to read their manuals and stuff a lot more than modern games do and a lot of essential information is found there.
This reminds me so much of a UA-cam video I would watch when I was super into the MOTHER series... thank you for making me so nostalgic, even if just for a short time! Great review, too. Can't remember the last time I saw such a comprehensive deep dive of MOTHER 1.
I am happily subscribing after watching this. Everything about this is awesome and your taste in music rules - dropping Sweet Trip and Built to Spill on those transitions was kick ass.
Mother is my favorite game series and this is a well deserved roast. In the words of Jeff Ross, “we have to roast the ones we love”. You nailed it.
Awesome! Thank you! I hope you enjoy my content
Also yeah, Sweet Trip and Built to Spill are my life
currently suffering through this game, nice review
several nuggets/10
The virgin: earthbound beginnings
The chad: mother encore
I literally just finished earthbound beginnings so im kinda excited to see this
thoughts, did you grind to deal with all the enemies ?
omg it's always so good to find a new youtube channel, i'm loving yours already!
Tysm :)
So excited. You’ve easily become one of my favorite UA-camrs. Always tune in for anything you have😆
Additional fun fact about Itoi: He's the voice of Satsuki and Mei's dad in My Neighbour Totoro.
21:15 is easily accomplishable if you frequently go back to your mom for your favorite food, and once you’re level 4 (shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes) it’s easy to make it to podunk.
Phenomenal video btw!
Just another good video tbh. I know you've expressed some annoyance on twitter with the algorithm and stuff and I totally feel your pain, but I hope you don't let that stop you and that you continue to put good stuff out there.
Thank you man
Mother 1 was my first experience with the series. I absolutely loved it.
Nice! I'm glad you enjoyed it
I always found it weird how people would refer to M1 as game that was way too hard and was skipped by everyone, because is my personal favorite of the trilogy, later I discovered that the reason why I didn't have a terrible experience with it was because the edition I played was the GBA port which was also a hack room since it included the "Easy Ring" and my mind didn't process it as "Easy Mode", reason why I could actually enjoy the game and have some moments stuck in my heart like stone.
Thanks to whoever made that hackroom, you allowed me to have a wonderful experience with the game even with it's flaws (I didn't find the zoo with the singing bird at first, didn't know what to do for a while lol)
Really enjoyed the video! Such good production and editing. I stopped playing around Mother around the graveyard section just cause I got too busy, this makes me wanna plug in my wii u again
Thank you boxy :3
Well, I hope you got a switch with online now
@@Goodsuh YEAH BABBYYY
Wish I could listen to Pollyanna more often, but I cry every time I hear it
I first heard the song during a terrible part of my life, and as corny as the lyrics may be to some, they were just what I needed at the time
Sometimes I need to hear the song to cheer me up, remind me that in a world of miracles, what's to say I can't pull one off myself?
If I ever have kids, I'll be singing that song to them as their lullaby, even if I sob my way through it
D'aww, that's a really sweet story. I don't know if my relationship with the song is as heavy, but it still is so cherished to me and I could totally cry to it in the early morning, lol
You are are kinda like giygas if you think deep enough
@@bohnzo473 Hol' up
OH NO.
Itoi said that you could say that Ninten and Ness are the same person if you want. He made it so you could choose if he is.
But then why does he revert to a scrub who can barely read a mind again once the 90's roll around? And for that matter, why is he still a kid?
I have similar feelings to Mother 1. I played it after Earthbound and Mother 3, and it really was hard to get into. Objectively, it's really rough and dated. Random encounters annoyed the hell out of me, the grinding got ridiculous at times, the story only really kicked in at the end, and I had to use a guide for some of the melodies because of the lack of direction. But at the same time, I can't help but love the game. It surprised me how much from the game influenced Earthbound, like the music and the characters. And I just have a soft spot for this series. The themes of moving on and love that are hidden in the story and tiny details are great and the ending just makes me so happy. I love Ninten's connection to the party members, it felt deeper and more genuine to me than Ness' bonds with the Earthbound crew. The music was great, especially in some areas like Snowman. Overall while the gameplay is dated and frustrating, the game as an overall package is still something special and I'm thankful it started possibly my favorite video game franchise of all time, Mother.
As somebody who failed to reach Podunk before putting the game down, while absolutely adoring EarthBound / Mother 3, I sympathise with your struggle. Loved the video, though; the effort that went in here is incredible, as well as the considered thought you put into how to actually assess the game. Definitely subscribing!
i love the part in pong where the right pong said: "its pong time" before beating the opponent. its one of the moments in gaming history.
Even though Earthbound Beginnings is my 2nd favourite game of all time, and my favourite Mother game, your criticism is pretty true
Thanks for your open mind! And yeah, I have a lot of admiration for this game, and I’d still say I like it. I suppose this video is like, “tough love”
I love earthbound beginnings as much as I love earthbound. Both are masterpieces in my eyes.
this might be your best video so far, great work
Every comment about this game is so true though, like how the biggest challenge in the game is getting from your house to the first town, it’s so true
Nah mate mt etoi is the hardest part if your under level the difficulty spike goes up
Just finished playing Mother 25th Anniversary Edition and this was a great video. Went over a lot of things I didn't like about the game but highlighted the reasons I kept playing. Great job!
29:57 the guitarist in magicant tells you where to find the melodies, that's how i finded them (srry for my english)
Hi i just discovered this video because well i'm currently searching for mother 1 content
Honestly my experience with mother 1 is kinda simple: i'm not yet an earthbound or mother 3 fan, but i decided to try and play mother 1 blind, 3 times now. I just gave up because the battles were that frustrating, but i was still curious about it and what it had to offer, so i watched a walkthrough. And i really, really loved it. Idk why but, seeing it be played was so enjoyable, discovering the nice weirdness of its story, of its interactions, of its characters, i just love it. It has a lot of things and tries a lot of things and i love it.
Thanks for the video, very cool, i'll go try earthbound now.
I like to interpret the melodies as The Golden Ratio from SBR. It's exclusive tones of music that can be found anywhere, but it has to be recognized by skilled people. This explains the bonkers locations the melodies are found in.
I love EarthBound Beginnings so much, I decided to try to recreate the soundtrack.
It might not be the most exciting game with the high encounter rate, but it is a very charming game. And I enjoy every minute of it. :)
3:05 only switch1e could pull off Peter griffin straight into John Lennon
You always notice the best details
The Mother/Earthbound its my favorite trilogy of videogames. Congragulations Itoi
I played this game just two years ago, going into not knowing anything. I’ve played some of Earthbound when I was younger, and watched a play through of Mother 3. Even though there is not much to the story and gameplay, I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Hearing the opening screen and 8 melodies just gives me chills when I listen to them. The game somewhat gives me those 80s movies vibe.
18:56 I disagree..Ninten is an adventurous kid despite having Asthma, and really didn't need to be sent to start his journey, he saw something was interesting and went on his own. Ness is a more thoughtful kid who is really a bit of a homebody as much as he gets homesick, and is there mostly as he feels a duty to help.
Ana is more shy and proper having been raised in a church, she was timid and unsure as they danced. Paula is more self assured, able to deal with being kidnapped twice and even helping Monotoli to wake up.
Lloid is.. a bit scary, the fact he is suffering bullying, firework obsession.. yeah... Jeff though, he's a nice kid with the worst father I can't express my hatred of that old monster, but he is focused and doing his best to earn the Andonuts name even while his father forgot he existed and wants to forget again.. yet Jeff forgives him in the end as his dad started to realize he cared about him.
I like this interpretation but you have to realize that at the most, these characters have like 5 or 6 sentences of dialogue in the whole game they're in
@@switch1e True, more dialog would have helped.. that and not dressing the characters alike but I tried to use the tiny bit of evidence the game had. You know?
@@AgapeForgotten True! I like your interpretations nonetheless. Thanks for watching my video! :)
My best option in the Podunk part of the game is to constantly run away, but then I'll get 8000x more encounters that way.
23:12 The rant about the Fuck You spell
I remember getting softlocked in Spookane because I didn’t have enough money for the train and couldn’t get any more for some reason. I don’t remember why because I played it years ago on Wii U, but I quit out of frustration
I thought it was funny that mount itoi was never play tested
Honestly, this video opened my eyes as to what a Earthbound Beginning's "remake" would do for Nintendo.
They would just need to fix the issues as mentioned in the video (it would be nice if they remade it similar to the style of Link's Awakening for Switch imo) and this would be a nice way to get something Earthbound related on Switch. The pricing might be a whole different story though (hopefully not).
It's nintendo, they always sell their games for 60$
@@webo4074 True
I bought Earthbound Beginnings on Wii U because I knew the eShop was closing down and I was getting everything I had even a passing interest in, but I knew absolutely nothing about it other than the fact that it was pretty much a more primitive version of Earthbound. This video really opened my eyes to what it is and I really appreciate that. Great vid!
Thank you very much for watching! :)
such a good video, it praises its high points but also criticises the low points
Thanks
So I wanted to address the difficulty of the beginning of the game. I just completed this recently, and grinding for sure is needed at many points of the game including the beginning.
I played this on the Nintendo Switch online, not sure how much has been changed from this version compared to the one you played through. One thing you didn't mention was back at the house. One of your sisters gives you Orange juice, and you can keep talking to her and get more until your maxed out. Doing that in combination of grinding a little bit in the basement before leaving the house, will really make the trek to Podunk much more manageable.
One thing I noticed that both in Mother and Earthbound, both games seem much harder in the early phases. Before you get more characters to attack and absorb damage. Once you get those characters, (and level them up to something useful) it gets easier. In many people's 1st playthroughs, Peaceful rest valley was a real challenge.
there is something about mother that makes it so lovable regardless of its flaws. im not really a fan of old school rpgs or many rpgs in general but this series has a charm to it that just makes me adore playing them. i agree with what you said about the game, the overworld is too big and the encounter rate is painful, but the npcs, the characters, and the final battle really makes the game worth playing. also, incase you didn't know, in magicant you can buy something called the "repel ring" for i believe $160 which will limit encounters for a little bit and give a break from the tedious battles. and if ana is level 9-10 she can cast psi shield beta in the final battle which will make all damage halved so you can beat the game without having to grind to high levels for the end :)
Oh yeah the final battle is easy as hell
I really love Earthbound Beginnings (though I know it more as Earthbound Zero or "Mother 1"), so much so that it's one of my favorite video games along with Mother 3. I'm really glad you took the time to talk about it, as it's often overlooked in favor of its successors. It's far from perfect, but one thing I think it does well is by having a very compelling atmosphere or "vibe." There's a sense of melancholic anemoia whenever I play. The map and its sense of scale is a big reason for this for me - I have a better sense of being a kid on a continent-trotting adventure than in Earthbound and Mother 3.
That said, I've never played this game as intended. I really can't argue with you in regards to the gameplay. It's brutal, it's jank, it's downright broken. I highly discourage anyone from playing this game without a mod of some sort - it's really not worth it. Even if you're an ardent believer of playing games as vanilla as possible, doing so with Mother causes more harm than good. Honestly, I don't even think a guide is enough. I highly recommend newcomers to play this on GBA with a translation patch so they can utilize the easy ring. It doesn't make the game a walk in the park, (especially in the late game, you'll still need to rise and grind) but it makes it a lot more manageable and allows you to focus on the atmosphere that's so compelling to me.
A day when switch1e uploads is a good day
You deserve far more subscribers than you have I mean that whole-heartedly
I actually enjoy beginnings. Not knowing where the melodies are without a guide is frustrating but otherwise it reminds me of first generation pokemon games. Go from town to town. Turn based combat. Buy items to aid you. Even the sprite and art design are very reminiscent of those games to me
I'm glad you like it! Honestly since making this video the game as a whole has grown on me a lot. I can definitively say now that I think it's pretty great even if it's pretty punishing to go in without a guide or something.
0:38 That’s a pretty funny gauge.
Nice use of Citizens of Earth music in the outro. That was a fun if somewhat flawed game.
when i play simplistic old games like mother 1, i feel inspired because i’m having such fun with this game that would be trivial, technically speaking, to make on modern hardware. i could _genuinely_ make a game like this and bring someone joy with it.
23:52 as a person who as only played Earthbound and Pokemon as RPGs, I got thru the first chunk of the game pretty easily, believe it or not.
I remember the first time I ever played mother I got to Duncan’s factory and then quit bc that thing was too confusing for me as a child 💀💀 came back to it years later and finished my original save file tho lmao
This pic goes hard, feel free to set as desktop background.
Been listening to a ton of Mother soundtracks and I came across this video. Amazing stuff. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
There's something scary about watching a guy with long hair in a pony tail that is most likely a RateYourMusic user (velvet underground? sweet trip? there's even glitchwave in this video) that is a MOTHER superfan, it's like looking into a mirror as I literally had described myself writing this comment (or maybe I'm just self centered, but who knows)
Yeah I use RateYourMusic 😜
I’m glad you liked the video!
I beat this game without a guide.
32 hours and 39 minutes.
(6 days)
10/10
One of if not my favorite RPG ever.
That’s quite impressive. Do you play a lot of old school RPGs?
@@switch1e I (unofficially) emulated the first 3 Final Fantasy games, the first game, in my opinion, was more difficult than EarthBound Beginnings. (I didn't beat it, or any of the others.) FF2 was fun, and almost had perfect balancing. (My favorite of the 3.) And I just, gave up on FF3. For some reason saving the game never worked.
I also unofficially emulated EarthBound SNES a month before it's Nintendo Switch rerelease. The day they announced that both EarthBound games would be on Nintendo Switch, I instantly stopped running my emulator. (I was very upset.)
(I use one of my old phone's to emulate old games.)
Maybe I should try Dragon Quest next, I don't know.
(Sorry if this takes too long to read.)
I LOVED playing MOTHER 25th Anniversary Edition as my first MOTHER game, so I guess I technically played a remake of this game! It left a good impression, honestly, but I don't exactly recommend it to my friends who have less patience for oldgamey bs
25th Anniversary Edition is great. Seems like a big problem with the original game is brutal enemy encounters punishing exploration. Anniversary Edition actually made exploring quite fun, and left a good impression on me as the only open-world MOTHER game.
I really love this review!
As someone who's been a fan of Earth Bound Zero since they were a child, it always really pissed me off that one of the most viewed reviews on the game was made using an anniversary hack instead of the original game, especially considering that said hack makes the game look uglier (at least in my opinion) and actually makes the later areas way harder and significantly more grind-heavy. Overall the review is pretty bad because of it, and really shows why you shouldn't just trust random fanhacks to be "improvements".
I feel you actually gave it a really fair shot though, which is actually super refreshing. The map design was something I never actually considered before you mentioned it. I remember completing the entire game when I was 10ish and only using the walkthrough maybe once or twice (iirc I got lost on Mt. Itoi because I didn't know you needed to use the boat with Loid, and I completely missed that Canary Village existed) but I could definitely see that as being a frustrating issue. Not really sure how I beat it back then without looking up maps to be honest though because I haven't been able to pull that off since.
Funnily enough I remember that when my dad legally found the rare prototype abandoned in our backyard for me, he patched it with an easy mode patch (the Demiforce one I think) since he heard how hard it was and I played it for an hour before getting bored because of how easy it was. Then I went outside and found a second copy of the game that hadn't been patched yet, and ended up playing that one until completion. Somehow the grinding was never an issue for me as a kid, I always saw it as a challenge I think. Even as a fan of the game though I can acknowledge that EarthBound is pretty objectively better in some aspects, yet somehow that's the only game in the series that I completely lost interest in and never beat as a kid. Not really sure how that works out (especially considering I started with EarthBound before going back to Zero) but I guess it did sell well with kids in Japan for a reason, so maybe I was just the target demographic for Zero lol.
Although seeing you mention your RPG Maker game makes me realize that Earth Bound Zero being my favourite game as a kid is probably why all of my terrible RPG Maker games I made as a kid required so much grinding in them, so that's a funny realization.
But yeah, ramblings aside, I like your review. Good/10.
Thank you for the kind comment? What review were you talking about, by the way?
@@switch1e looking it up I believe it was the one by KingK? Don't really feel like watching the whole video to confirm though.
The anniversary hack changes pretty much everything besides the music though, including balancing, map layout, all of the art, etc. so using the hack in a retrospective felt super disingenuous to me. It makes much more sense to me to review the actual official version of the game like you did. (Unless the goal is specifically to review the hack, which was not the purpose of said video I was complaining about.)
Honestly I didn't even need to mention the other video, it's just really cathartic seeing a fair review of this game for once.
@@AmbiguouslyAnonymous Ah, well thank you anyway
The rare English prototype was just...abandoned in your backyard? Geez, what are the odds of that?
They don't make RPGs like this anymore... Where you have to quest to get out there...
The story of Ninten and Ana, Ness's parents
Just wait until Mother: Encore comes out
I think you should try mother encore (if you haven't), the fan-remake of mother 1, and it's still on alpha but I could feel how the mother series has evolved and the battles were much more balanced.
I hope this got to you
I remember playing a project like that years ago, but it wasn’t finished sadly
@@switch1e they even have an official disord server, I think yo can find on downloads or something and btw the demo stop's at the magicant stone. Even though you should give it a try
i finally beat Mother, now i can finally FINALLY watch this video
I like a lot of things about Mother 1 like how quickly it lets you start playing at the start, and I don't mind the ginding and difficulty since I'm used to that with NES games. But yeah, those maps are pretty bad. I quit playing when I got to the factory because I kept getting lost.
This video is lovely! I also enjoyed the song choices you used!!
I've seen people praise things that are hard to get ahold of or have become obscure. And I understand why - when something passed you by, it's easy to see it as a hidden, lost gem. And in doing so, to overlook its flaws.
But I like how you tackle this game's flaws and admit how deeply broken it badly was. I played Earthbound first, and it feels like essentially a hugely upgraded version of this game, as you pointed out (similar story and characters, but also things like updated versions of the same songs). Mother 1 was still interesting to experience, to see what feels like an early alpha version of Earthbound's concepts.
I really enjoyed this video.
Didn’t think I would listen to “Chocolate Matter” by Sweet Trip in a Mother video, but it was certainly a pleasant surprise. Great video, man! And great taste in music 😌
Thanks man!
Mother is archaic and was the last mother Game I played, but this game hit me in a different way from behind to end, I was addicted, and though needs a remake, it holds a special place in my heart, and I think it’s the best NES RPG
Back a month later after this came back through Nintendo switch online
20:00 okay being a Mother, and Built to Spill fan.
Why didn’t I have you as a friend in high school 😭
I disagree that the beginning is the worst, later on gets so monotonous. after the robot dies, you can be wiped out over and over having to make your way back again and again
Mt Itoi is freaking hard
Mt. Itoi is easily the worst part of the game. The maps are large with few rewards, the enemies range from obnoxious and time-consuming to infuriatingly difficult, and you have to go through it twice! Thankfully, the music is decent, Giegue's encounter is stellar, and there's a free healer halfway through. But still, it's a disappointment both to what came before and after.
EVE is really damn cool though.
@@aspeckinthegrandschemeofth3457 4th-D slip is your best friend in mt itoi
As someone who is an earthbound fan,
Respect for the roast
23:18 is legit the earthbound beginnings version of ‘enemy_name glared with its eerie eyes’
Hey, this is good stuff. You remind me of old(er) gaming UA-cam content, with the skits and stuff. However, these are just good critiques. Good job!
Thank you!
I played this one first, is reallt good when you speed up using a emulator, despite its flaws, it has a place in my heart.
It was not easy for me to play it without speeding it up, but I managed
@@switch1e The Mother 1+2 version really improved the game, the auto battle mode saved me a lot of stress
commenting for the algorithm yay
also nice video! i love your work. mother 3 is my favourite game of all time but ive never played 1 or 2 (and dont know if i have the patience to so i like just watching videos talking about them instead). I remember trying to play mother when those mini nintendo consoles came out and found it impossible because the enemies at the start were way too strong lol
Thanks for helping with the algorithm! Regarding the Mother series, you should definitely play 2 at least. It’s not much more difficult than Mother 3 (I would say it’s easier)
although i dont why but this feels like a guptill89 video
is that the most attractive sonic characters guy
The thumbnail is beautiful and so is the video itself
Keep it up😎👍
Thank you so much 😀
I just finished Mother 1, and you really summarized my mixed feelings on it very well. To put it simply, I absolutely loved it, but I don't think I'll play it again. I think it was worth it, even though I've never played similar older RPGs. The ending was also wonderful and made the experience feel complete in a way.